The week ahead: Earnings overload

Earnings week continues on Wall Street as another slew of companies gets set to report their first-quarter performance.

17 June 20029:04 am BST

Following are some of the notable tech-related events scheduled for the week of April 22 through April 26.

Earnings week continues on Wall Street as another wave of companies gets set to report their first-quarter performance.

Investors will hear from tech juggernauts, including Lucent Technologies, Macromedia, WorldCom, Ericsson, Amazon.com, Expedia and AT&T Wireless, and are hoping that corporate America will make rosy promises of a recovery for the remainder of the year--and deliver on them.

Economic watchers will also get a peek at how the economy as a whole did during the first quarter. The government will release data on Friday on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter, a report that sums up all the economic output for a given time frame.

Wall Street is expecting GDP to grow at an annual rate of 5 percent for the quarter, a blistering pace when compared with the fourth quarter's 1.7 percent growth rate and the third quarter's drop of 1.3 percent in economic activity.

Finally, leaders of industry will have some conferences to attend if they wish to get their minds off the economy and talk about the bigger picture.

Streaming Media West and Internet World Spring take place in New York City and will touch on almost all things Internet, while the Milken Institute's Global Conference in Los Angeles will focus on issues that effect countries and continents as well as companies.

The Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems meets at the Minneapolis Convention Center, April 20 to April 25, and will discuss themes broadly related to how people interact and work with computer technology.

Monday, April 22

Penton Media will hold Internet World Spring at the Los Angeles Convention Center, April 22 to April 26. The conference is geared toward people involved in Internet business and will address topics such as customer relationship management, wireless Internet, security, content and advertising. Keynote speakers include RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser, PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway, and Shelby Bonnie, CEO of CNET Networks, the publisher of News.com.

Chip giant Intel will hold a press event to showcase the new Pentium 4-M chip for notebook computers in Vanderbilt Hall at the Grand Central Terminal in New York City on April 23 starting at 10 a.m. EDT.

The Software Development Conference and Expo takes place at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, Calif., April 22 to April 26. Software programmers can flock to the event for workshops and tutorials about XML development, .Net, Java and Web services.

Forbes will help the Milken Institute stage its Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, April 22 to April 24. The annual event is for government, academic and business leaders to meet and discuss issues such as globalization, regional prosperity, political stability, technology innovation and health care.

Tuesday, April 23

Streaming Media West will share the Los Angeles Convention Center with Internet World, April 23 to April 26. The gathering aims to attract people in the media and technology industries interested in delivering media over the Internet.

Next Generation Networking kicks off at the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame, Calif., April 23 to April 25. The conference is for investors, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists interested in learning about future trends in the telecom equipment industry.

IDC will sponsor a meeting of the High Performance Computer User Forum in Santa Fe, N.M., April 23 to April 24. The event features presentations by companies, analysts and academic researchers on issues that relate to advanced computing technology and applications.

The Hewlett-Packard trial starts April 23 in Wilmington, Del., and is expected to last three days. Board member Walter Hewlett is asking the Delaware Chancery Court to throw out the results of HP's shareholder vote on the Compaq Computer merger.

Wednesday, April 24

The Consumer Electronics Association will host a conference on the transition to digital TV at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on April 24. The gathering is tailored for home electronics makers, retailers and broadcasters interested in new digital TV services such as HDTV (high-definition television).

Thursday, April 25

IT consulting firm Unisys will hold its annual shareholders meeting on April 25 at The Inn in Philadelphia, starting 9:30 a.m. EDT.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is expected to hold a hearing regarding an online privacy bill on April 25 at 9:30 a.m. EDT.

Intel will hold its spring analyst meeting on April 25, starting at 8:00 a.m. PDT. The event will also be Webcast.

Friday, April 26

Internet portal company Yahoo will hold its annual shareholders meeting at the Santa Clara Marriott Hotel in Santa Clara, Calif., on April 26 starting at 10:00 a.m. PDT.

Friday, April 26

Patent and scientific information provider Derwent will hold a free seminar at the Hilton Hotel in San Jose, Calif., on April 26 about the importance of "patent intelligence" when competing in a global business environment.

Also this week

FundingPost.com will host its VC Pavilion at the Investment Expo in New York, April 27 to April 28. The two panels will feature entrepreneurs and investors who will address trends in the venture capital industry.

Qualcomm developed and licenses CDMA (code division multiple access) technology that is used to run cell phones and wireless equipment. Per-share consensus estimate for the second fiscal quarter: profit of 20 cents.

MCI Group is a subsidiary of WorldCom and offers long-distance phone service, prepaid phone cards and wholesale Internet access to consumers and small businesses. Per-share consensus estimate for the first quarter: loss of 43 cents.

German conglomerate Siemens makes electronics gear for the transportation, automotive, computer and telecommunications industries. No estimates were available.

Japanese electronics giant Sony manufactures a variety of consumer electronics products. No estimates were available.

VeriSign makes software for businesses and Web sites that helps secure e-commerce and communication transactions over the Internet. Per-share consensus estimate for the first quarter: profit of 20 cents.

The Federal Reserve will release the Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions, also known as the Beige Book. The study comes out eight times a year and gathers anecdotal information from business leaders on the economic climate in each Federal Reserve district.

Durable Goods Orders represents the percentage increase or decrease of big ticket items purchased, such as washing machines and refrigerators as reported monthly by the Commerce Department. Economists use the number to measure demand in the economy and expect orders to rise 0.5 percent during March versus a 1.5 percent gain in February.

The Commerce Department will release New Home Sales figures for March, which represents the number of new homes sold in the United States, and serves as another measure of demand in the economy. Wall Street expects home sales to increase to an annual rate of 893,000 in March from 875,000 in February.

Thursday, April 25

Initial Claims refers to the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits each week as reported by the Department of Labor. Claims will be reported for the week ending April 20.

The National Association of Realtors reports Existing Home Sales for the month of March, representing the number of previously built homes sold nationwide. The data indicate the strength of demand in housing and in the overall economy on the premise that the economy heats up as more consumers buy homes, cars and other high-ticket items. Analysts expect sales to fall to an annualized 5.67 million from 5.88 million in February.

The Help Wanted Index for the month of March is a monthly survey by the Conference Board of the volume of help-wanted advertising in major national newspapers. Wall Street uses the index to measure trends in job growth. In February, the index climbed 4 points to 51, and it stood at 72 in February 2001.

The Labor Department's Employment Cost Index measures quarterly changes in compensation costs, including wages, salaries and costs to employers for employee benefits. Analysts expect the index to rise 0.9 percent for the first quarter, the same increase during the previous quarter.

Friday, April 26

The Commerce Department will report advance GDP numbers for the first quarter of 2002. GDP represents the value of U.S. goods and services produced within a certain time frame and is a measure of the nation's overall economic health. Wall Street expects growth of 5 percent for the quarter. The government previously said fourth-quarter GDP rose at an annual rate of 1.7 percent, an improvement from the drop of 1.3 percent in the third quarter.

The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index is a measure of consumer confidence as reported monthly by the University of Michigan. Experts expect the index to rise to a revised 95.0 in April from March's 94.4.